Senator John McGahon- speech from 19 Jan 2022

Thank you very much Lasker-Herlock, and before I suppose I get into the detail of today's commencement debate, I'd just like to thank personally Minister O'Donovan on a couple of fronts. First of all for being here to take the commencement matter, it shows that as the Minister for the OPW, the fact that he's here directly for it shows his commitment to this particular flooding project in my part of the world. Secondly, to thank him for the engagement that he's conducted with Lowe's County Council, particularly last summer when he came to see these projects directly, to sign and to start to really make sure that they were kept on track. So I suppose Minister, one of the things we just want to outline today is, first of all we've seen a number of notable flooding events, particularly in the Dundalk and Blackark areas in 2008, 2014, 2016 and just again two years ago in 2020. These areas are at very significant risk of coastal flooding, and we've seen that the future risks of flooding have increased because of a whole variety of things, climate change being just one of them, and areas like Dundalk and Blackrock, which are areas of natural low-lying topography, is an issue because it calls for a much more sensitive approach towards flood relief schemes and the type of construction that goes into these. So for example, the proposed flood relief scheme for both Dundalk and Blackrock South, it consists of a construction of a series of hard defences, including flood embankments, walls, rock armour, coastal protection, barriers, road raising, and the tanking of two properties. And the whole point about this is, when this actually goes ahead, it's going to protect over 1,800 residential properties. The other point that I really wanted to raise about it, which I think is important, is in the context of the Greenway as well, so there's huge ambition to have a Greenway stretching from Carlingford into Dundalk, and Dundalk onto Blackrock on onwards. But the Balergan to Dundalk to Blackrock Greenway is the one that I want to reference, it can't go ahead, or we naturally can't do anything about it until this project has gotten to a certain degree, and once this project has gotten along to a certain area, then we can start applying to Government for funding for Greenways. So, in terms of a Greenway along this area, which would be very important for tourism, it's not going to actually happen until this project has gotten to a certain level, and it would be good to know, at what stage do you feel that in this whole process, can Louth County Council start applying for funding for Greenway, or whereabouts do we do that when it comes to the flood defences? The other thing I'd be interested in, Minister, is to get your overall view on what you think the timelines are, when we look at some of the, you know, I know these are long-term projects, they're not things that are done overnight, so we're in 2022 now, Minister, so if all goes well, what do you, where do you envision we get to, in terms of a completion date, are we talking 2025, or as far as on to 2026? There was very detailed public consultation, took place last October, and I think that is really important as well, and the final thing I'd like to say is that there's absolutely substantial funding allocated for these areas, this is a project that's worth between 80 and 90 million, the Black Rock South one is also included with RD, so substantial funding from Government and from your department, it's an important thing we need to get, it's an important thing we need to make sure it gets over the line, and I'd be just interested to hear what your views are on those time frames. Thank you, Senator McCohan, Minister. Thank you, Senator McCohan, Minister. Thank you. First of all, I want to welcome the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the progress being made on the Dundalk Black Rock South NRD Flood Relief Scheme. As the Senator knows, I visit the county loud to learn more about the flooding in the county and the plans that the Office of Public Works have to manage the risk, and I'm aware that the impact the flooding has on homeowners, businesses and communities in the area. Through the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Flood Programme, which is more commonly known as Seaframs, detailed engineering and analysis assessment and extensive public consultation were undertaken for over 300 communities throughout the country, including 90 coastal areas, including the eastern part of county loud. One key output of the Seafram Programme was the Flood Risk Management Plan that contained proposed flood relief measures informed by cost benefits and environmental factors to address the flood risk in each at the risk community and nationwide. The evidence provided by Seaframs was launched in 2018, supports the government's 1.3 billion euro investment programme, and is delivered to the National Development Plan. A total of 118 flood relief projects were identified to protect the main flood risk areas throughout the country, and these include the proposed schemes for county loud, and they are Dundalk Black Rock South, Drogheda, Carlingford, Green Ore, Beltreya and RD. Loud County Council working with the Office of Public Works have agreed to be the lead authority in the delivery of these schemes, and the Council chairs each project steering group, which includes the Office of Public Works and the local authority RIPs. The Dundalk Black Rock South and RD projects that are being progressed simultaneously were chosen by the Council as the first project to be advancing county loud. The Seafram proposed flood relief scheme for Dundalk Black Rock South would consist of the construction of a series of hard defences, including embankments and walls, rock armour, coastal protection, the mountable barriers, raising the road, sluice gates and tanking of two properties. The proposed measure for RD consists of flood embankments and walls at an average height of 1.8 metres and a total length of approximately 600 metres. Both schemes will provide the protection required by the insurance industry and will be adaptable for future climate change scenarios. The development of the flood relief schemes involve five distinct sequential and related stages. The stages involve assessing the flood risk and identifying options, planning, detailed design, construction and maintenance. Where is it possible the project management of the scheme delivery does involve running some of the stages in parallel to expedite delivery, such as detailed design, when planning permission is being sought? The cost for the Dundalk and RD schemes is approximately €80.9 million. The tender for the engineering consultancy services for the project was awarded the Binnis family Black and VH and Nicholas O'Dwyer as a joint venture in 2020. The proposed flood relief schemes for these areas will protect some 1,880 properties when completed, 1,705 residential and 175 commercial. So these are enormous schemes. Currently the Dundalk Black Rock South and RD scheme project is at stage one and this includes the collection of hydrology and hydraulics, the development of an options report for the preferred and viable scheme and the preparation of associated environmental considerations set out in the EIR. The steering group for this project is meeting monthly and the scheme development is ongoing with the work progressing on surveys at hydrology and hydraulics report schemes and options and environmental assessments. The detailed programme for this scheme schedules that stage one will be completed in quarter one of 2023 and following the completion stage of stage one, the next stage is to complete the necessary planning for the preferred scheme through the planning and development acts. At that time the scheme's programme estimates that the post planning and subject to no challenges or delays, which is important, construction of the works will commence in 2024 and will take three years to complete. Thank you. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Minister. Thank you so much. It is really important just to get that update to know where we currently are with it and I really appreciate you for coming to the House to do that. One thing I picked up and that she said, which is quite important, that this project is a medium-to-long-term project, ensuring, you know, providing that it is not subject to any delays or any challenges and I think that is very important that we all put that on the record of this House. This is a development that needs to happen to protect over 1,800 homes from being flooded and if there were to be any delays or challenges to it, it would significantly impact our ability to deliver it on time. Thank you. Minister. Yeah. It is important to point out that as part of the scheme, Lowell County Council do intend an integrated, comprehensive and planned manner to consider the construction of a greenway. The proposed greenway will form part of the proposed greenway link from Belfast to Dublin, often referred to as the Great Eastern Greenway, and it will enable walkers and cyclists to travel off-road between Belfast and Dublin. This is something that I have been very keen to progress as Minister for the Office of Public Works. We use our embankments for something other than flood relief that we are now incorporating them very much into our local amenities. But I would say again, as I use this opportunity to be in the House, that all of this is predicated and the fact that this thing will move along through the planning process without interruption. And I say this in the context of having good news today from Cork City, where we are finally after jumping a huge hurdle from Morrison's Island. So I would say that, you know, I wish Lowell County Council the very, very best of luck in the delivery of this project as they are the lead agency. But this is without interruption. So let's hope that there won't be unnecessary interruption, particularly a planning stage for the people of Dundalk, Black Rock South, RD, Drogheda, Green Ore, Baltray and all the other places in County Lowell that are badly waiting. Flood relief for what is a very important part of that part of the country, because sea levels are rising. This is a big threat, and I have said it in this House before, the greatest threat to this country in the short and medium term isn't from any kind of an invasionary force. The greatest threat to this country in the short and medium term is actually from the sea, and we need to take that seriously. And unfortunately there are people in the political sphere who don't want to take that seriously, who think we can just row our boat along and everything is going to be fine. And we will all go up to the High Court for judicial reviews and challenges and everything like that. And in the meantime, the floodwaters continue to rise. People's houses continue to get destroyed. People's businesses continue to get destroyed. Their lives continue to get destroyed. They can't get insurance. And it's a continuous hamster wheel of the same thing happening. And I keep continuing to come in here with the same reports and the same answers. These people deserve better, and our Rock just deserves to do more for them than we're already doing. Yeah. Got our mic. . . . . . . . .